Want the latest news and gossip emanating from the center of the poker universe in Las Vegas, Nevada? Here's where it's at.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Phil Hellmuth, as you might expect, haunted by his World Series of Poker runner-up finishes, Daniel Negreanu talks poker storytelling and a new wave of characters waiting to be discovered and nine players get ready to claim $1 million.
1) Hellmuth Traumatized By WSOP Runner-Ups
Remember those nine runner-up finishes for Phil Hellmuth at the World Series of Poker that we talked about yesterday?
Turns out Phil has his mind on them, too:
Can't sleep! Tortured all night w flashbacks about my @WSOP 2nd's. By playing 1 hand differently I would have won 4 or 5 more bracelets
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) June 3, 20142) DNegs: Get TV Poker Back to What it Used to Be
Did you love "The Nuts" on ESPN? Think today's TV poker broadcasts are too strategy-centric and alienating to viewers? Miss the great storytelling of old WSOP broadcasts that brought the game and its characters to life?
You're not alone. The third part of Daniel Negreanu's fantastic sit-down with Remko Rinkema is up today and the topic, for the most part, is TV poker. Specifically, Negreanu says, how we've lost the plot when it comes to poker storytelling:
“If you want to bring people into poker you have to show them that it’s fun. Is that the vibe you, or anyone else, gets when they watch a broadcast today?
"Newcomers that watch now basically think, ‘Wow, this game is so hard and I don’t even understand half the language they use and it’s all serious business.’ That’s not enticing and I think, even though I know that poker purists find it boring, it’s much better to just show ace-king versus two jacks all in before the flop.
"We’re trying to pull people into the game and get their emotions and heartstrings pulled and I don’t think high-end poker does that for anyone at all.”
Negreanu gets into plenty more including the myth that quiet young pros aren't interesting (eg. LuckyChewy could be Huck Seed 2.0), the mistake of selling poker as a sport and what we need to do to fix it.
As always, Negreanu is on point. Great stories are everywhere you look in poker; it's up to us to get them out to the public. Check the full interview here.
3) They Wont Million
Ever dreamed about turning a $1k buy-in into a $1.3 million payday? Nine poker players will live out our dreams out today at the final table of the fantastically successful Millionaire Maker event at the World Series of Poker.
With a gtd $1m prize offered for the winner the crowds flocked to the Rio and the result was a massive 7,977-player field and an incredible $1.3m up top.
Who's still in the mix? Two very accomplished tournament pros in Brit Andrew Teng, the Edinburgh-based pal of Rupert Elder and Dominik Nitsche, and WSOP Circuit grinder Maurice Hawkins.
The other seven? In the immortal words of Russian tourney crasher maratik, they wont million too. And one of them is about to get it. Final-table chip counts:
1. Stephen Graner 12,005,000 2. James Duke 4,645,000 3. Andrew Teng 4,375,000 4. Andrew Dick 4,185,000 5. Bradley Anderson 3,850,000 6. Jonathan Dimmig 2,870,000 7. Maurice Hawkins 1,960,000 8. Jeffrey Coburn 1,660,000 9. Jason Johnson 1,245,000
Check back on our 2014 WSOP page for full results later.
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